ESPN radio host Dan Le Batard voiced frustration with President Donald Trump and his company for its handling of political issues on Thursday, drawing a response from ESPN in the form of a memo.
In the memo, ESPN reiterated prior company standards regarding politics. The company does not encourage any talk about “pure politics” on the network that is supposed to be focused on sports and only sports.
There is no current punishment for Le Batard, but he did miss the first hour of his daily radio show before joining the team during the second hour. (RELATED: ESPN Pundit Dan Le Batard Rips President Donald Trump, Blames Him For ‘Racial Division’)
Here is the initial video of Le Batard’s rant:
Stop what you’re doing and watch this.@LeBatardShow responds to the racist “Send her back” and “Go back to your country” attacks against Ilhan Omar and other congresswomen.
“If you’re not calling it abhorrent, obviously racist, dangerous rhetoric, you’re complicit.” pic.twitter.com/ntOC2Seg3b
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) July 18, 2019
As you can see by the video, everyone else nearby looks a little concerned with what’s happening as they know a punishment may be coming. Clearly Le Batard wasn’t thinking about them, continuing to complain about the “Send her back” chants that erupted during a Trump speech.
Listen, if you have an opinion on the matter that is perfectly fine, and I know Le Batard’s show is completely different from normal sports talk radio, but it was a clear violation of the company’s new rules.
This is not the first time that Le Batard has crossed the line for the company as he previously was suspended for giving his hall-of-fame vote to Deadspin and also advertising a billboard after LeBron James left Miami – where the show is based.
If you’ve wondered why the “Dan Le Batard Show” hasn’t aired for the past 2 days, its bc he purchased this billboard pic.twitter.com/7oFJWV1DBx
— CenterCourtNBA (@CenterCourtNBA) August 8, 2014
Ever since the Jemele Hill firing, ESPN has not allowed these types of situations to occur because of the fear of losing its audience and it is completely understandable.
Either Le Batard will have a short comment on the matter or he will just move forward keeping this in mind. The host could also just ignore it altogether, but I doubt he puts his job on the line.